2001 candidates for ASNE Board

Incumbent nominees are indicated with a *. The candidates are in random order.

*Gregory L. Moore

managing editor

The Boston Globe

Aspirations for ASNE: I respect the role our organization has played in focusing attention on issues like credibility, leadership and writing, through our awards program. We have to continue in that vein and I would like to help ASNE provide more tools and information about managing our operations in these fast changing times. We need to focus, perhaps more than we do, on what's good about newspapers and what we do well — hard news and investigations. And we can play a more vocal role in the ethics debate — whether it's how we do our job or how we cover people and issues. We must never give up the diversity fight and the search for more creative ways to achieve our goals.

Career: Moore has been managing editor of the Globe since 1994, after holding a series of management positions at the newspaper. He joined the Globe in 1986 after three years at the (Dayton) Journal Herald and six years at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, his hometown newspaper. He was a founding member of the Cleveland chapter of NABJ and served on the national board of directors for NABJ.

ASNE activities: Moore has been an ASNE member since 1995. He has been on the board since 1998. He has chaired the International and Membership committees, and has served on the Diversity, Freedom of Information, and Nominations committees. He has also chaired the convention press room and served on the Writing Awards Board.

Susan Bischoff

deputy managing editor

Houston Chronicle

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE has made a strong commitment to encourage talented students of all backgrounds to become newspaper journalists. We need to do more on the college, high school and middle school level. Once we have the best and the brightest on our staffs, editors have to do a better job of retaining them, particularly journalists of color.

As convergence becomes a way of life in our newsrooms, ASNE should lead in developing and communicating best practices, ensuring journalistic principles are maintained regardless of the format.

Career: Bischoff was named deputy managing editor of the Houston Chronicle last year, after 14 years as assistant managing editor for features. She was business editor after stints reporting business and metro news at the Chronicle. She is chairman of the Chronicle's Readability Task Force and has co-chaired its New Product Development Committee for five years. She worked at Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., before joining the Chronicle. Bischoff is a past president of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. She is active in the Associated Press Managing Editors and Texas APME.

ASNE activities: She is chairing the Education for Journalism Committee for two years as the High School Journalism Initiative gets under way. Previously, she has worked on the Convention Program and The American Editor committees. Bischoff has been a member of ASNE since 1999.

Gil Thelen

executive editor

The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune

Aspirations for ASNE: I envision, and will work to sustain, an ASNE that:

• Embraces our multimedia future and insists that enduring journalism values guide converged media enterprises.
• Shines light on changing reader needs and helps editors reshape content to grow the audience for quality journalism.
• Tirelessly works to diversify our workforce and rejuvenate scholastic journalism.
• Vigilantly safeguards First Amendment rights and responsibilities.
• Provides editors the insights and tools to enhance their newspapers' credibility and their leadership effectiveness.
• Builds bridges to other industry organizations so the voice of editors is strong, clear and effective in determining our future.

Career: Thelen, executive editor of The Tampa Tribune since 1998, helped lead the creation of the multimedia News Center in Tampa. It houses the Tribune, WFLA-TV, TBO.com and a business news radio station.

Thelen was a Knight Ridder editor for 20 years, first as an assistant managing editor of The Charlotte Observer, then editor of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and The State in Columbia, S.C. While in South Carolina, he was co-founder of the Southeastern Multicultural Workshop, a university-based program that graduated more than 100 non-traditional minority journalists into newsrooms.

Thelen was a reporter for 15 years, first at The Milwaukee Journal, then The Associated Press, Consumer Reports magazine and The Chicago Daily News. He has served as a Pulitzer juror and judge of the Scripps Howard excellence awards.

ASNE activities: Thelen joined ASNE in 1990 and has served on the Change, Education, Minorities and Partnership committees. He served as chair of the Change, Education, Partnerships and Interactive Media committees and is the incoming chair of the Interactive Media Committee. He has written on change and multimedia for The American Editor and edited several ASNE reports on change. He was a member of ASNE's Journalism Credibility Think Tank, Values Institute and Writing Awards Board.

Byron Calame

deputy managing editor

The Wall Street Journal

Aspirations for ASNE: I would like to help ASNE:

• Generate practical, newsroom-grounded ideas for newspapers of various sizes that inspire readers to spend time with them and to be better informed.
• Explore ways to better integrate our print and Internet news offerings.
• Foster the diversity of staff and outlook that can make our coverage more relevant to our communities.
• Promote standards of journalistic accuracy and fairness — and ways of thinking about them — that can provide handrails for editors and reporters to grab in the daily grind of the newsroom.
• Better exploit the ASNE web site for the sharing of ideas among all of us.

Career: Calame has been a deputy managing editor of the Journal since 1992, and is in charge of the news department in the absence of the managing editor.

His first paid job in journalism was at age 13, as a part-time copy boy for a weekly in southwest Missouri. After serving four years as a naval officer, including a Vietnam assignment on a minesweeper, he joined the Journal as a reporter in 1965.

He subsequently was a bureau chief in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. He was an assistant managing editor in charge of West Coast news operations and a senior editor in New York before assuming his present position.

Calame will complete his term as president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers at the end of April; he has been a member of the SABEW board of governors since 1995

ASNE activities: Calame will be chair of the new ASNE Craft Development committee in the coming year. He has served on the Ethics and Values and Convention Program committees and participated in the Journalism Values Institute project. He's been an ASNE member since 1994.

*Robert G. McGruder

executive editor

Detroit Free Press

Aspirations for ASNE: "HELP!''

The cry of newspaper editors dealing with the demands of readers and non-readers, staffers and owners.

Help.

What readers and communities look for and should find when they open our newspapers.

Help.

What ASNE must give to editors and newspapers struggling to excel and serve.

Help doesn't exist automatically in the name ASNE. It comes through the efforts of ASNE's members, men and women dedicated to the First Amendment, quality products, high ethical standards and diversity of staff, content and readership.

My aspiration for ASNE is that our members provide the help all of us need as we make our newspapers better, stronger and more useful for readers and communities.

Career: McGruder was named executive editor of the Detroit Free Press January 1, 1996. He joined the Free Press as deputy managing editor in June of 1986, was named managing editor/news September 1, 1987 and was named managing editor January 1, 1993.

He worked at the Dayton Journal Herald before joining the Cleveland Plain Dealer in the fall of 1963. Drafted in 1964, he served two years in the army in Washington, D.C. He returned to The Plain Dealer in 1966.

Working with former Cleveland Mayor Carl B. Stokes, McGruder and Plain Dealer reporter Allen Wiggins, wrote "Promises of Power," a 1973 political biography of Stokes, the first black mayor of a major U. S. city.

McGruder covered city government and politics for The Plain Dealer until 1971 when he became an assistant city editor. He returned to reporting and writing in 1973. He was named city editor of the Plain Dealer in 1978 and managing editor in 1981.

He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Minority Media Executives.

He has served as president of the Associated Press Managing Editors, as a director of the American Press Institute, and as a member of the Accrediting Committee of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

ASNE activities: A member since 1983, McGruder has been a board member since 1998 and has chaired the Education for Journalism Committee and currently chairs the Readership Issues committee. He has also served on the Diversity, Convention Program, and Coverage and Content committees.

Charlotte Hall

managing editor

Newsday

Aspirations for ASNE: Simply put, ASNE should help editors create great newspapers. Through its convention programs and public statements, it can serve as a bully pulpit for advancing journalistic values and defining key issues. Through its committees, it can offer practical advice and a network of support for editors.

My priorities for ASNE include the drive for diversity in staffing and content, aggressive action on First Amendment issues, a focus on pushing into multimedia, an emphasis on writing and public interest journalism, and guidance as we reinvent our papers for readers who live in a shrinking and complex world.

Career: Hall's work at Newsday spans 20 years and numerous assignments, from copy chief to Washington news editor to assistant managing editor for Long Island. She also spent two years as marketing director, responsible for circulation marketing, NIE and the research department. She returned to Editorial as a managing editor in 1997.

Hall came to Newsday after The Washington Star folded in 1981. She held various editing positions at the Star, The Boston Herald American and The Record of Hackensack, NJ. She started her career as a reporter and editor at the Ridgewood (NJ) Newspapers.

Hall has been active in the International Women's Media Foundation. She is also a member of the Newspaper Association of America and serves on the NAA's GOLD Advisory Committee, focusing on raising the importance of diversity in the industry.

ASNE activities: Hall joined ASNE in 1997. She has served each year on the Diversity Committee and currently chairs it. She also serves on the Steering Committee of the ASNE/APME Fellows Program, funded and administered by The Freedom Forum, and has actively assisted the ASNE High School Journalism Initiative, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. She has also been on the American Editor and Convention Program committees.

Doug Clifton

editor

The Plain Dealer, Cleveland

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE's first priority must be to defend the First Amendment, the free flow of information to the public and the concept of open government. Without those, newspapers lose their ability to fulfill their most fundamental mission, public service. Beyond that ASNE must provide opportunities for the professional enrichment of its members, the goal being to enhance the credibility and vitality of America's newspapers.

Career: Doug Clifton has been editor of The Plain Dealer since June 1, 1999. He began his newspaper career in 1970 at The Miami Herald's Action Line. Over the next 17 years he held a variety of reporting and editing assignments at the Herald, including city editor and deputy managing editor. He subsequently served as news editor of Knight Ridder's Washington bureau and as managing editor of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, another Knight Ridder newspaper. In 1991 Clifton returned to The Miami Herald as executive editor.

Clifton is a member of the Journalism Advisory Board at Kent State University and a board member of Cleveland's Society of Professional Journalists.

ASNE activities: A member since 1991, Clifton has chaired the International Committee and has been on the Minorities, Future of Newspapers, Ethics and Values and Freedom of Information committees.

*Edward W. Jones

Editor

The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.

Aspirations for ASNE: After four years on the ASNE board, I am excited about the Society's growing role as a national voice for newsrooms on key industry issues, especially diversity and credibility. My experience as 1998 convention program chair has convinced me that ASNE must continue to connect with editors through projects and studies that make a real difference in newsrooms, particularly on topics related to leadership and technology. My goals for the Society reflect my background as a proud member of a dwindling breed. I have spent my career at a family-owned independent daily in my hometown of Fredericksburg, Va. Yet I also have had the opportunity to serve in a variety of national roles. That experience convinces me that ASNE should offer programs that focus on the basics of journalism, but that also inspire editors to think big. Keeping in mind the special needs of smaller newspapers is key.

Career: Jones began work at The Free Lance-Star as a high school intern in 1965. He started full time as a reporter at the newspaper in 1973. He became editorial page editor in 1979, managing editor in 1989 and editor in 1999. He has headed the National Conference of Editorial Writers and the Virginia Press Association, while also serving on the board of the Associated Press Managing Editors. He was a founding director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.

In 1998, he led The Free Lance-Star through the successful launch of a Sunday paper, the conversion from afternoon to morning delivery, and the redesign of the paper.

ASNE activities: Jones has been a member since 1990, and on the board since 1997. He has chaired the Convention Program Committee and served on the Ethics and Values, Freedom of Information, Change and Literacy committees. He was also on the Credibility Think Tank.

Joe Distelheim

Editor

The Huntsville

(Ala.) Times

Aspirations for ASNE: I want to be a voice for small and mid-sized newspapers, which make up the vast majority of American dailies. The Small Newspapers Committee this year has worked successfully to increase the role of smaller papers in ASNE and to reassert their traditional place as incubators of journalism talent, particularly minority talent. ASNE as a whole? In a time of rapid demographic and technological change, it must maintain and expand its place as a strong advocate of our longstanding journalistic and First Amendment principles.

Career: Distelheim has been editor of The Huntsville Times since 1994, after serving as executive editor of The Anniston (Ala.) Star. He began his career as a reporter at the Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal newspapers, and moved through editing roles there, at The Charlotte Observer, and at the Detroit Free Press. He took a year out as a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford. He is currently president of the Alabama Press Association Foundation (for journalism education) and past president of the Alabama APME.

ASNE activities: Distelheim chairs the 2000-01 Small Newspapers Committee. He joined ASNE in 1990. He has also been an active member of the Program and American Editor committees, and has served as a convention floor manager and election judge.

*Gilbert Bailon

executive editor

The Dallas Morning News

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE has a long tradition of serving top editors and newsrooms. Today's new technology, rapidly changing demographics and pressures for financial performance make managing newsrooms as challenging as ever.

ASNE is the rudder to navigate through these churning waters. Its membership serves as a support group, idea incubator, guardian of ethics and watchdog for community service.

The organization's strength is drawn from its individual members and committees. The board’s role is critical in defining the agenda, protecting journalistic integrity and inspiring innovation.

Career: Bailon became the executive editor of The Dallas Morning News in 1997, having previously served in various management roles at the newspaper since joining it in 1986. Prior to working in Dallas, Bailon was a reporter for the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, the Los Angeles Daily News, The San Diego Union and The Kansas City (Mo.) Star. He is on the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education board and is a past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and served on the board of Unity '99.

ASNE activities: A member since 1994, Bailon has been on the board since 1999. He is a former chair of the Diversity Committee and incoming chair of the Partnerships and Diversification Committee. He has also served on the Convention Program committee and the Writing Awards Board. He was a member of the Credibility Think Tank.

*Jennie Buckner

editor

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE needs to help its members grow as leaders and develop the leadership of others. We live in times of great challenge and change in our business and strong editorial leadership has never mattered more. ASNE must also keep journalists focused on the ever-important issues of readership, diversity and credibility so that newspapers can remain a strong and vital force in our society. Finally, ASNE needs to inspire and encourage excellence in journalism.

Career: Buckner has been editor of The Charlotte Observer since 1993. Prior to that, she served as Vice President, News for four years at Knight Ridder. Earlier, she spent 11 years at the San Jose Mercury News, as features editor, assistant managing editor and managing editor. She began her professional career at the Detroit Free Press where she worked for almost ten years in various editing positions.

ASNE activities: A member since 1982, Buckner has been on the ASNE board since 1998. She chairs the Leadership Committee and previously chaired the Readership Issues Committee. She served on the Future of Newspapers and Ethics and Values committees. She was also a member of the Credibility Think Tank.

Rena Pederson

editorial page editor

The Dallas Morning News

Aspirations for ASNE: ASNE should be the cutting edge for journalism, always pressing ahead for ways to do better, from headline to bottom line. At a time when more people are getting their news from cell phones and their opinions from late-night comedians, ASNE can help provide the kind of leadership that daily newspapers need. That means ASNE will have to be an idea factory where the-way-it's-always-been-done must do battle with why not? It means standing tall for the First Amendment when critics come calling. It means recognizing excellence in writing and celebrating solutions. It means putting together a convention that is provocative and re-energizing. It means showing how to recruit a staff that is diverse and comfortable online and on-air. I'd like to be part of that positive renewal.

Career: Pederson has worked at The Dallas Morning News for 28 years, after serving with UPI, AP and the Houston Chronicle's Washington Bureau. At the News, she has been a beat reporter, feature writer, TV critic, editorial writer, op-ed editor, and editorial page editor. She is a former president of The National Conference of Editorial Writers. Her book, "What's Next? Women Redefining Their Dreams in the Prime of Life" will be published by Penguin-Putnam in April.

ASNE activities: A member since 1986, Pederson served on the ASNE Program and Literacy committees. She chaired the Writing Awards Board and currently co-chairs the American Editor Committee. She will be co-chair of the Program Committee for the 2003 New Orleans convention.